Weleetka Sketch Artist Tells His Story

The artist who made a sketch police hope will lead to the killer of Skyla Whitaker and Taylor Paschal-Placker said he tries not to let the emotion of the case impact his work.

Harvey Pratt relied on witness descriptions to sketch the person spotted near the scene of the slayings nearly three weeks ago. Investigators have circulated Pratt?s sketch, but have not found the man they?re looking for.

?He doesn't have anything that just jumps right at you like a broken nose or a unibrow or missing teeth or huge scars,? Pratt said ?He's about like most of the drawings that I do, he's pretty normal looking.?

As a sketch artist, Pratt?s job is to look for the small features that may help someone stand out from the crowd. He said he tries to approach his work without emotion, sometimes a tough task in a homicide investigation.

He said he sympathizes with the families of the two girls, but said he doesn?t want to meet them. ?It doesn?t help me at all. In fact, it may even cloud me a little bit because you get emotionally involved.?

Pratt said that he?s constantly scanning crowds, looking for people he?s drawn. He even jots down license tag numbers.

He hopes his sketch will help bring the Weleetka investigation to a quick end.

?I want it to be of value, not only for those children, those families, for us, but for law enforcement,? he said.